Thursday was a bad day for the towing business, said Jim Schlier of Schlier's Towing.

"Nobody's driving on the highways, thank God," Schlier said. "When they close the roads, we don't get calls."

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation only plowed the interstates, Schlier said, and his crews reported the side roads were unplowed.

"We're doing people broken down on highways. Not side streets. They are not plowed. We have the same issues they have," he said.

Thursday's call volume fell to probably less than half of a normal day. But that should change this weekend. It's always busier after a storm. Some cars will have been buried by the snow and plows.

"Surprisingly enough, our phones are extremely quiet at this point," said Nina Waskevich of AAA North Penn said.

It got some calls from people who went off the road. But she said people most likely stayed in.

Today should be busy. People will be digging out and more people will be back on the road. Some of the secondary roads will not be in good shape, she said. And people will be postponing their normal service calls until today, when their service garages are open again.

What do you do when you're snowed in? Call out for a pizza, of course. Unless it snows too much.

More than half the pizzerias we called were closed. Only some of those who opened would deliver, like Goomba's Pizza on Main Street in Stroudsburg.

"We're delivering with patience," owner Sam Khamis said. Calls for deliveries were up by half and people were walking in too.

The East Stroudsburg Pizza Hut, which does takeout and delivery, only opened for pickup but not delivery Thursday. Palumbo's Pizza in Stroudsburg opened, but Palumbo's II in Bartonsville was closed for the day.

"We can't get in or out of our plaza," store manager Mike Hayes said.

But he expects the delivery business will be up today. Many of the calls come from car dealers who have extra staff cleaning off the snow-covered cars on their lots.

Mom Elisa Byrne went to Target in Stroud Township Thursday morning to buy "cookies, crafts and other unnecessary things" to keep her twins, Grant and Hudson, both 2½, entertained during the snowstorm.

"I didn't want to be going stir crazy," said Byrne of Canadensis. "I figured we would be buried."

Plans for the day include fingerpainting, Valentine's Day crafts and decorating their rooms, she said.

As whiteout conditions set in, anything with a bit of color became more distinctive. So the pinpoints of headlights and the flashing yellow lights of plows served as warning to motorists that something else was on the road.

Many roads, during the early teeth of the storm Thursday, were deserted. Motorists largely seem to have heeded warnings and remained home. Most vehicles were plow trucks and a few buses. And one nosy editor"»

Northeast Search and Rescue activated Operation Snowbound to transport home health aides and health care workers. The group completed three transports as of 2 p.m. Thursday, with a total of 16 transports scheduled between 8 a.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. today.

Reader Tyler Kleinle of Bethlehem reported: "I am currently listening to a Beach Boys record on my 1972 Magnavox console. Literally behind the console is my window showing wind, snow, plow trucks, and cars skidding across the road. It's such a contrast to 'Surfin' USA' and 'California Girls' that I am hearing at the moment!"